After a busy start to the new year, February shows no signs of slowing down for CFC alumni. This month brings a slew of new alumni updates and successes, including 86 nominations for Canadian Screen Awards, our announcement of the 2020 CFC Award for Creative Excellence recipient, a number of new film and TV deals and alumni films at SXSW in March. Read on for the latest updates and to find out where you can catch CFC alumni work (in front of and behind the cameras) on TV screens and in theatres.

Cara Ricketts at the 2020 ACTRA Awards

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

• CFC alumni received 86 nominations for 2020 Canadian Screen Awards
• Brad Peyton will be presented with the seventh annual CFC Award for Creative Excellence in celebration of his significant creative and entrepreneurial contributions to the international screen industry (read our profile of Brad here)
• Cara Ricketts won an ACTRA Award for Outstanding Performance – Female for her for her role as Mary Handford-Lacroix in Anne with an E

Rules for Werewolves

FESTIVAL WATCH

• The following alumni films are headed to SXSW 2020, which runs from March 13 to 22 in Austin, Texas:
  • Castle in the Ground, produced by Will Woods and edited by Jorge Weisz, will have its U.S. premiere
  • The Silencing, co-produced by Matt Code, is making its world premiere in the Midnighters section
  • Rules for Werewolves, directed and edited by Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux with music by Dillon Baldessero, will see its world premiere in the Texas Shorts Program
  • Hot Flash, produced by Matt Code with music by Neil Haverty, will screen in the Animated Shorts Program
  • Documentary series Cursed Films, executive produced by Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith and Laura Perlmutter, will celebrate its world premiere in the Episodic Premieres category
• Catch the following alumni films at Canadian Film Fest, which takes place March 24 to 28 in Toronto:
  • A Perfect Plan, starring Gia Sandhu
  • Hazy Little Thing, co-written and produced by Erin Carter, starring Emily Coutts, Jade Hassouné, Supinder Wraich and Erin Carter, with music by Neil Haverty and Chris Reineck
  • The Cuban, starring Giacomo Gianniotti, featuring Emily Piggford and edited by Jane MacRae
  • Joey, executive produced by Lauren Grant 
  • Liminal, written and directed by Dan Abramovici, starring Emily Piggford and Vladimir Alexis, produced by Ali Mashayekhi, edited by Mike Reisacher, with music by Spencer Creaghan and Chris Reineck
  • Pressure Play, featuring music by Spencer Creaghan
  • Queen of the Morning Calm, written, directed and produced by Gloria Kim, co-edited by Orlee Buium, starring Zahra Bentham and Jesse LaVercombe and featuring music by Stephen Krecklo
  • Chubby, starring Jesse LaVercombe
  • ShoeGazer, directed by Isa Benn, produced by Karen Walton, and featuring music by Jason Couse
  • Swimmers, edited by Simone Smith, and featuring music by Aimee Bessada 
  • Because One Day, produced by Ali Mashayekhi 
  • Unidentified Woman, executive produced by Daniel Bekerman 
  • Buzzard, featuring music by Spencer Creaghan 
  • Plush, featuring music by Spencer Creaghan 

Humberly González on Utopia Falls

TELEVISION & WEB SERIES

• Actors Conservatory alumna Annie Murphy has been cast as the lead in AMC’s upcoming series Kevin Can F– Himself
• CBC And NBCUniversal International Studios have partnered on a new original drama series, Lady Dicks, co-created by alumnae Tassie Cameron and Sherry White (who also serve as also serve as co-showrunners) and is executive produced by Amy Cameron, with Holly Dale directing the premiere episode
• Tune in to CTV Wednesday evenings (beginning February 26) to catch Transplant, a new series created by Joseph Kay, which also features the work of fellow alumni Holly Dale (co-executive producer and director); Sugith Varughese (as senior surgeon Dr. Aajay Singh); Lynne Kamm (writer/co-executive producer); Rachel Langer (writer/co-executive producer); Nikolijne Troubetzkoy (writer/co-executive producer); Anar Ali (writer); Jennifer Engels (writer/co-executive producer); Sarah Glinski (writer); and Tamara Moulin (writer)
• Actors Conservatory alumna Humberly González stars in Hulu’s new sci-fi hip-hop series Utopia Falls, which started streaming on February 14 and is available on CBC Gem in Canada
• Actors Conservatory alumna Kaelen Ohm has been cast in the Netflix action thriller series Hit and Run
• Vincenzo Natali and Dawn Wilkinson each direct two episodes of Netflix’s supernatural horror drama Locke and Key, based on the comic book series of the same name, which premiered on Netflix on February 7
• Unsettled, the latest project created, written, directed and executive produced by Jennifer Podemski is headed to APTN and TVO
• CBC Gem original tween action-adventure series Detention Adventure, produced by Lauren Corber (LoCo Motion Pictures), was in production on Season 2 in early- to mid-February, and will be available to stream on CBC Gem later in 2020
• Sudz Sutherland directed episode 11 (season 6) of The Flash, “Love is a Battlefield”
• Margaret Lester is a writer on Tommy, a new cop drama that premiered on Global on February 6, 2020
• Production begins on Season 2 of hit medical drama Nurses, executive produced by Tassie Cameron
• Kris Lefcoe recently directed an episode of the hit series Superstore
• Zahra Bentham stars alongside Octavia Spencer and Tiffany Haddish in Netflix’s four-part limited series Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker, which premieres on March 20
• Catch Actors Conservatory alumna Kimberly-Sue Murray on Citytv’s new original drama series, The Wedding Planners, which premieres March 27

Blood Quantum

FILM

• Stella Meghie’s latest feature The Photograph, opened in Canada on February 14, 2020
• Come to Daddy, produced by Daniel Bekerman, hit select theatres across Canada on February 7
• Alumni film The Rest of Us, from Aisling Chin-Yee (director), Mark Van de Ven (story editor), Brendan Brady (production manager/actor), Damon D’Oliveira (executive producer), and Emma Fleury and William Woods (producers) opened theatrically in the U.S. the week of February 10
• Blood Quantum, written and directed by Jeff Barnaby, produced by John Christou, and starring Actors Conservatory alumna Devery Jacobs, will hit theatres across Canada on March 27, 2020

ALUMNI INDUSTRY NEWS

• Writers’ Lab alumna Elyse Friedman is the recipient of this year’s TIFF-CFC Films Screenwriter Award for her feature project The Relationship Experiment
• Alumni Cory Bowles and Sanja Živković are among the eight participants selected for TIFF’s 2020 Writers’ Studio
• Listen to Warren P. Sonoda on First Weekend Club’s new Reel Inspiration podcast
• Slaight Music resident TiKA performed an outstanding set for guests at the 2020 CFC Annual Gala & Auction

Alumni! Do you have news to share? Want to update your alumni profile? Get in touch anytime at alumni@cfccreates.com.

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